Ice

Two people were injured in a head-on collision in St. Louis County Saturday morning, police said. According to police, 23-year-old Christian Dertinger, of Ely Lake, was traveling eastbound on Ely Lake Drive when he lost control of his vehicle and hit 22-year-old Megan Paul, of Ely Lake head-on

Federal immigration agents have searched a Minnesota restaurant as part of an investigation. Agents from Homeland Security Investigations searched the Hibachi Grill and Supreme Buffet restaurant in West St. Paul Tuesday. The division is part of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Since the 1940’s, scientists and visitors to Death Valley National Park have marveled at and pondered the mystery of its ‘sailing stones.’ Hundreds of rocks from pebble to boulder-size plow their way across the flat surface of the ‘Racetrack playa,’ engraving trails, some of which are considerable length, in the dry mud landscape.

It’s going to take an order from a judge for county jails to hold prisoners requested to be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Hennepin County officials made the announcement on Wednesday. Ramsey County officials also say the county will no long participate in holding inmates after serving their time.

The ice is receding as Minnesota’s fishing opener approaches, and that has longtime Leech Lake resort owners Steve Jacobson and Roy Huddle breathing a little easier and optimistic for a strong start to the season.

Head north of the Twin Cities along the shores of Lake Mille Lacs and you’ll find some residents dealing with large piles of ice being blown onto shore – and creeping towards their homes. With the month of May just two days away, trees should be showing some signs of spring, but trees along Lake Mille Lacs are showing signs of distress. They’re split and shoved by creeping ice.

As the winter begins to the thaw, many Minnesotans are just not getting a glimpse at the lawn for the first time in months. In many cases, it’s not a pretty sight. Local experts said this has been one of the worst seasons ever for winter-burn.

The winter of 2013-14 has seemed to be never ending and many Minnesotans are at their breaking point. It’s been a long one,” University of Minnesota dentistry student Nate Vanlaecken said. Vanlaecken is sick and tired of looking out at his neighbor’s lawns and seeing nothing but grass.

This year’s shipping season is getting off to a slow start due to record levels of ice on the Great Lakes after an extremely cold winter. Some ice on Lake Superior is still several feet thick, and ice breakers are working to carve paths for ships. Jim Sharrow with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority says that even with the help, several fleets have delayed their first sailing until early April.

One Wisconsin town among the many dealing with frozen waterways and clogged drains because melted snow has no place to go has tried an explosive new approach: blowing up a creek. Town of Onalaska officials hired a blaster to stick several hundred sticks of plastic explosives in the frozen Sand Lake Coulee Creek and blow it up on Friday.

Lake Michigan’s ice cover has set a record. The federal government’s Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor reports that ice spread across 93.29 percent of the lake’s surface area on Saturday.

Water levels in the Great Lakes are expected to continue a steady recovery this year, courtesy of widespread ice cover that is slowing evaporation and snowfall that has approached record amounts in some cities, federal experts said Wednesday.

National Park rangers have reopened the popular ice caves along the Lake Superior shore near the Apostle Islands. Officials closed the area Thursday night because of the strong winter storm and uncertainty how it would affect ice conditions on the lake.

There’s a law you may not know about that you could be breaking this winter. In Minnesota, drivers are required to clear their car windows of snow before driving. Scraping may seem pretty standard, but a lot of people aren’t doing it. Officers say that’s caused a string of accidents.

In it’s 39th year, the Maple Lake Ice Fishing Derby was held Saturday afternoon. Besides fishing, the event featured a vintage snowmobile show and an ice-auger drilling contest. Photojournalist Mike Durenberger has all the sights and sounds from the derby.

For the first time, we’re hearing from a Sartell, Minn. man who fell through thin ice and spent more than 25 minutes underwater. He then spent three and a half weeks in a coma and lost more than 50 pounds.

Minnesota is one of the healthiest states in the nation, and our cold and snowy winters don’t stop runners. There are some unique hazards connected to winter running that can cause serious injuries, even to experienced runners. Runner Jeff Dehler says his biggest concerns with winter running is slipping and falling on the ice.

At least 50 volunteers spent Saturday outside, adding ice to an already frozen lake. They were “hatching” ice luminaries on Lake of the Isles, which will be safely stored until the City of Lakes Luminary Loppet on Feb. 1. In the video above, WCCO photojournalist Joe Mears shows us the cold, wet process.

While the polar vortex brings a gut-punch of cold, it also brings with it something far less obvious: black ice. While seeing snow often cues drivers to slow down, what likely isn’t seen in extreme cold is ice, which can even form from condensation caused by car exhaust.